Deep Freeze

Ever since Sears dropped off our deep freeze, our lives have improved (extremely modestly)!

A quick trip to Costco and $120 later, we have veggie & meat burgers, two kinds of fish, popsicles, rolls and berries to last a month or two!

T&T Dim Sum

This place has some good, cheap weekend eats. We went to the Toronto Lakeshore location.

For $13, we picked up a green onion cake (I know not authentic and caters to the white people, but it sure was good), curry squid, har-gow, sui-mai and sticky rice in a leaf!

Easy BBQ Salmon

Tonight for dinner we used a couple pieces of Costco frozen salmon. About 15 min total on the BBQ with the last 5 minutes or so with a glaze of half BBQ sauce, half maple syrup. Very quick, easy and good!

McD's

Occasionally I pick up a grilled cheese happy meal for lunch. Oddly enough the price is slightly different depending where I purchase in the GTA. A low of $3.77 to a high of $4.24 with a $4.00 in there too.

Momiji

I have now discovered another Momiji location in Mississauga, but this post refers to the one in the Kingsway on Bloor.

Ian and I went for a birthday dinner and ordered some old favorites. The grilled eggplant was ok, but not grilled enough and was missing the addictive salty carrot-ginger topping that we love so much! Far less tasty than normal.

Then another appetizer - deep fried tofu (age-dash tofu I think is the official name). Very good and a hearty portion.

Main course was a beef bento. Tempura was good as usual and Ian was impressed by 3 large shrimp and I liked the veggies. Teriyaki beef with rice & veggies was a disappointment this time. Beef was extremely raw, chewy and the teriyaki flavor was rather sparse. In the past we have loved this dish so I'm not sure what went wrong in the kitchen tonight! Soup & salad also included.

Salmon roll & avocado roll were both very good.

BBQ Ribs @ Home

$20 at Costco will get you two full racks of pork side ribs! A pretty good value when you consider that half that will cost you $25 at most restaurants.

I put on a rub of paprika, brown sugar & cumin, wrapped in foil and baked for 3 hours at 275 in the oven. Then rested for about 15 and onto the bbq for about 15 min with sauce for the last few minutes. Yummy!

Alice Fazooli's

I'm normally against the semi-chain type places, but the allure of the patio on a nice Friday lunch was too much to resist!

Everything is overpriced with the exception of the lunch time half salad half pasta. The salad is similar size to the regular lunchtime salad (that costs about $12) and the pizza is as big as a plate! All for about $14 including tax & tip. The first time I ordered this, I thought they made a mistake with portions that were too big :)

My Thai Kitchen

This place is definitely a sit-down kinda joint, but they also seem to do take-out pretty well. Call on the way over and you will arrive to nicely packaged thai food a mere 10 min later! Here's the website with full menu & prices.

It defies logic that they seemingly don't have their phone number on the website, but with a little i-net research it can be located.

Tropicana Juice Aeroplan Point Bonanza!

Nice! 25 aeroplan points for some tasty juice that we would buy regardless! I like these promotions! Here's the details...

Fat Bastards Burrito Update

Fat Bastards in Etobicoke is now known as "Fat B's". I naively think it's because they have come around and thought that their original name was mildly offensive. Ian points out that some low end restaurants continually change names once they run amok with the health inspectors.

Regardless, we've been back and actually enjoyed the pork burritos. I can't quite put a finger on what they've changed since the first time when it wasn't so great. Maybe the beans?

Yorkville Quesda

I've met Ian a couple of times for some downtown burrito. First time was a large steak with the spicy sauce, the next time was pork with sour cream. Both burritos were yummy and rather large for about $8 or so. Lots of rice, beans, corn, salsa and meat!

For the real value seekers out there, pick up their buy 10 get 1 free card! Ian had some elaborate scheme involving the free burrito and guacamole that didn't work out well for him, but still a good deal!

Here's the website...

Fat Bastard Burrito (Etobicoke)

This new joint opened up on the Queensway by Kipling. Aside from a mildly offensive name, there isn't too much that's good to distinguish this place. Beans that were a bit more fresh instead of in a paste would be good. Also, steak pieces that weren't ridiculously tough and that had a bit of flavor would also be good. The burritos took FOREVER to be made too - not sure if it was opening month problems or not?

Anyway, not great, but if you are stuck in Etobicoke and don't want to go to Quizno's to get something quick this is a decent alternative.

It sounds as though we aren't the only ones lukewarm on the place.

Fish & Chip Friday at Ikea

Save your moola and get yourself to the local Ikea for Fish & Chips on Friday! One piece haddock + fries = $2.99 (regular $5.99). It's decent, quick and best of all good for people with babies that could get grouchy at any time!

Oliver & Bonacini

The final installment of Winterlicious 2010 was to a regular Oliver & Bonacini. They have never let us down in the past (Summer '09, Winter '09) and at $15 for a three course lunch, this is a real bargain!

Ian went for a stand-by, shrimp pate which was enjoyable as always. My squash soup was good and I'm often surprised by the large serving sizes of some of their items.

The Hungarian beef goulash often shows up on their 'Licious menu, but this year I actually tried it. It was a hearty amount of stewing beef with crispy potatoes, carrots and some cottage cheese. All around yummy on a cold winter day. Ian's panko crusted fish and chips and were good, but the real highlight was the excellent coleslaw and tartar sauce.

Dessert was the best part of the meal - sticky toffee cake with caramel sauce for me and Ian liked the carrot cake with cream cheese icing and lemon sour cream ice cream.

93 Harbord

Round 2 of Winterlicious festivities took us to 93 Harbord, a delightful Moroccan restaurant in the Annex. On the $15 lunch menu was lots of good stuff.

For appetizers, Ian really liked the lentil soup and my beetroot cumin salad was decent with apples and pomegranate seeds on there too. The charred soft pita was fantastic and even I (a dedicated olive disliker), didn't mind the olive dip that came with the pita.

After some rather tough decisions on the main course, I went with the fish tagine in saffron sauce with steamed couscous. This was a rather hearty plate of three kinds of fish in a delicious creamy yellow sauce. The couscous had some good stuff in there - nuts & raisins and the like.

Ian's spiced kofta kababs with rice, pita and rosee tahini sauce was also fantastic although somewhat mysterious. The first waitress I asked said they were lamb but when the other guy brought out the plate, he said beef. Regardless, a pretty decent ground mystery meat kabab!

Desserts were surprisingly good - Moroccan baklawa with shortbread and a fig and for Ian walnut and pear stuffed phyllo with some chocolate sauce.

All in all a good Winterlicious lunch on the cheap! This was definitely one place that we will frequent again.

168 Sushi Japan Buffet

Since it was apparently worth Janice skipping work last week, we decided I needed to go out and check out the 168 Sushi Japan Buffet. The short summary is I was not disappointed and I'd likely be willing to skip work too to take part in this delightful smorgasbord of tastes.

For an all you can eat sushi place I was impressed with the sushi. For the regular buffet they have salmon, white tuna, red snapper and various cooked or non-fun types. I stuck with those big three fishes for my sushi eats. The fish was great in all 4 of the rounds I ordered in it.

The next thing that impressed me was the speed of the service. No sooner did we fill out the menu card then there was food arriving at our table. Overall the service was great which is certainly something you don't usually say about all-you-can-eat places.

In terms of other food, we also ordered a range of things: tempura, a few maki rolls, various non-raw rolls for Janice, gal-bi, grilled veggies, various pizza slices and maybe some other items. Nothing was disappointing.

For dessert Janice strongly cautioned against the banana tempura so I stuck with a scoop of red bean ice cream and green tea ice cream. Both were good and amazingly Janice actually somewhat liked my red bean ice cream.

In a sharp contrast to last week's fiasco at Al Mac's, the pop and beverages are included. I had Coke but wisely kept to only two glasses to save room for all-you-can-eat goodness. Janice stuck with water which was free. (Al Mac take notice!)

The only complaint I have is that sashimi is not included in the lunch buffet or the deluxe buffet. You have to order it a la carte.

At 14 + tax + tip for lunch, it's not cheap but we'll definitely be back.

Bloom Winterlicious

For our first Winterlicious event of the year, it was off to a somewhat local place - Bloom in Bloor West Village. The google review thingy people were generally positive on the place and it lived up to expectations. It seems as though Bloom isn't on most 'licious patrons' circuit as it was about half full for lunch on Sunday.

On the menu for us ($20):

Appetizers:

Grilled calamari with salad
Warm spinach salad with sauteed mushrooms and chevre noir.

All around good stuff with well cooked calamari, fresh greens and good salad dressings for both.

Mains:

Roasted pork loin with rutabega-apple crumble & brussel sprouts
Trout with warm beet salad, green beans and grapefruit

For me, the two large slabs of pork were pretty decent with good side dishes. Ian liked his trout calling it simple and well done, although maybe a bit boring. Bloom does the veggies well - with even Ian enjoying the beets and admitting that my brussel sprouts were "moderately edible".

Dessert:

Vegan chocolate tart with almond crust
Sticky buns with creme anglaise

Ian thought the tart was "tasty" and would have preferred it without almonds though he doesn't fault them since the menu was correct.

No complaints about the sticky bun itself and the creme anglaise really made the whole thing into a good dessert.

Pita & Grill (Mississauga)

Although not a huge place, Pita & Grill packs in the people and does a steady take-out business for the Monday-Friday lunch crowd near Winston Churchill & Dundas.

Go for the falafel or shawarma sandwiches and you won't be disappointed. Prices are low - less than $5 for a rather large falafel.

Al Mac's in Niagara

At the corner of Stanley and Ferry in Niagara Falls is a compelling sign. 6.99 for a breakfast buffet and 13.99 or so for a dinner buffet. It was walking distance from our hotel so we went for breakfast. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it was not!

The place was fairly crowded so that seemed good and we went in and were seated right away. The waitress asked what we wanted to drink and so we asked if the beverages were included. They're not so we asked for water. We were shocked though when the waitress said it is their policy not to provide water. If we wanted water, we could buy bottles. We were shocked.

We decided to stick around to sample the buffet anyway without any drinks. The food was fairly standard: pancakes, waffles, french toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, potatoe fries, etc. The food was alright for the price. More select than you get with Ikea's $1 breakfast but you're paying significantly more. It's tough to enjoy breakfast when you're thirsty. It's one thing for my glass to run dry during a meal but a whole other thing for there to be no water whatsoever.

We each took two plates of food and got the bill. It's apparently a good thing we didn't order a beverage. Juice is apparently $4 for a tiny portion. Anyway, once we paid we hopped across the street to 7/11 where we bought two juices which we enjoyed on our walk home. We never looked back - well except to scowl at the place when we passed it on the drive out.

I feel bad for people that paid for the drinks. The breakfast buffet at other places looks significantly better for The morale here is to save your money and go for a vegas or at least some place other than Al Mac's

Stone Road Grille (Niagara on the Lake)

For someplace that gets two stars in the Toronto Life Restaurant Guide in the "Out of Town" section, the Stone Road Grille in Niagara on the Lake was surprisingly not busy for Saturday lunch. It was Ian and I and another table of 4. The Niagara Ice Wine Festival was even in town which probably brought a lot more tourists to NOTL than might normally be there for a cold weekend in January!

Lunch started well with a selection of sourdough bread made in house and some butter. Then it was onto a squash soup - no complaints but a bit plain ($8 for a big bowl).

Ian really liked the hearty portion of mussels cooked with chorizo & wine. They came with a hearty side of good crispy fries ($14).

For me, a sweet potato risotto with fresh parmesan tasted remarkably like the risotto I make at home except more creamy ($12). Again no complaints, but nothing too special.

Overall, it was a very good lunch at a reasonable price and we will definitely be back if we are in the area.